


Arena + Sport (players + fans)  = Real

by BardicRaven



Series: Retail Magicks [7]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Hockey, Original Arena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 14:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16138910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicRaven/pseuds/BardicRaven
Summary: The Arena represents many things to many people, and is a good guardian of  Hockey besides.





	Arena + Sport (players + fans)  = Real

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theladyscribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/gifts).



The Arena sighed, settling into its bones, the ground, as the afternoon went by. Silent now, between the rush of morning practice and the hustle-bustle of the game to come, the Arena waited. To the uninitiated, it would simply sound like the normal sounds of a building in the afternoon sun – the creaks, the groans, the pops and hisses. 

But they were not the people for whom the Arena waited. No, the people for whom it waited were the ones who Believed. Believed in the Game, the players, the competition, everything to do with the sport of Hockey, capitalized in their minds forevermore, so much so that they had left bits of themselves behind, to populate the Arena with ghosts – full-formed and otherwise.

And they would come. The players first, as it always was. To get dressed, to warm-up, to do all the routines and superstitions that they felt compelled to. Then, the crowd would begin to trickle in, slowly at first, then, as game-time drew near, more and more until at last the Arena felt complete.

It almost didn’t matter who won or lost, as long as the Game was played. 

Almost. The Arena did give a sharp preference to the home team, unsurprisingly, but treated all comers well as long as they respected the Arena, themselves, and the Game, not necessarily in that order.

Tales were told about what happened to those who broke the rules, both spoken and unspoken. The bullies and the cheats, both on and off the ice. Wyrd thingstended to happen to them, things that couldn’t be explained away by the things and the doings of humankind.

But far from driving people away, it made the Arena more popular than ever. After all, Hockey was a game of risk, why not the watching of it as well?

And there were blessings to be found as well. Fair play, both on and off the ice, was rewarded as much as foul play was punished. Little things, nothing too large to be explained away, but still, happening with enough regularity to let the people who came to the Arena wonder.

The fans noticed it, the players did as well. It was said that if you were in a slump, you could come to the Arena and find yourself a cure out on the ice. Likewise, it was said that if you were on a roll and too haughty and high about it, the Arena and its ice would find a way to bring you down to size.

There were those over the years, who suggested that the Arena be replaced: that it was too old, too out-of-date for the modern player, the modern fan, the modern Game. But they were sushed, told that if they didn’t like the Arena, they were welcome to go elsewhere for their game-watching, that the Arena was fine just as it was, and didn’t need improving.

Truth was, the people were concerned that, if they tore down the Arena, even if they built it on the exact same spot, instead of doing the parking-lot switch as so many others had done, that it wouldn’t be the same.

That the magick would be gone, never to return.

So, partly out of loyalty, partly out of fear, the fans, the city, the owners and players alike, all vowed to keep the Arena as it was. That for all the change in the world and in the game, this one place at least, would remain the same.

**Author's Note:**

> While I can see from your list that we do not entirely agree on the Hockeys (your DNW teams are two of my faves), at the same time, we both love the game and that is more than enough.
> 
> Hope you enjoy your tale and Happy Hallowe'en!


End file.
